He would have had to have fully cocked the hammer, and pulled the trigger to make it go “Boom”, unless it had been modified as a “slip hammer” pistol, with the trigger tied back or removed.
Pietta makes two types of copies of the 1873 Colt. One like the originals, and one with a transfer bar in which the hammer must be fully cocked to raise the transfer bar.
Below is a schematic of the two types made by Pietta. One like the old style and a transfer bar model.
https://www.vtigunparts.com/store/images/1873%20Pietta%20SA.png
One more thing I forgot about, when the hammer is cocked, a pawl connected to the hammer pushes up on the cylinder to rotate the next chamber into firing position. When in firing position the “bolt” on the bottom locks the cylinder into position.
If you thumb slips before the cartridge in the chamber is aligned, the firing pin will not hit the primer, but to one side.
To make it fire, the hammer has to be at full cock. If at full cock, then the trigger has to be pulled to make it fire.
Baldwin may be telling the truth. Single action revolvers of the original design had the firing pin attached to the hammer and pulling the hammer back slightly less than half-cock position and releasing it could fire the gun.
Would somebody that knows more than I do educate me as to whether the trigger is engaged at half-cock? I seem to remember that it is not. If not, pulling the trigger at half-cock would not release the hammer.
These guns were the origin of the term, going off half-cocked.
None of this excuses Baldwin for pointing a gun at a person, but it might explain how it could have discharged without touching the trigger.
Ok Alec, you didn’t “pull the trigger”. Did you squeeze the trigger instead? Did you have your finger touching the trigger as you cocked it? I expect the gun to be found to having a “broken sear” after the FBI lab gets thru screwing with it.
